Ly et al., 2001. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 13 (5): 1-6

Thirteen types of tropical trees and shrubs available in the ecological farm of UTA, at Chamcar Daung, Cambodia, were selected for a screening test to evaluate in vitro pepsin/pancreatin digestibility of N and to explore the possible interdependence with other non-conventional tests for assessing nutritive value of foliages for pigs. Leaves and petioles were from Acacia auriculiformis, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Borassus flabellifer, Cocos nucifera, Desmanthus virgatus, Eucalyptus spp, Flemingia macrophylla, Gliricidia sepium, Hibiscus rosasinensis, Leucaena leucocephala, Moringa oleifera, Morus alba and Trichanthera gigantea . DM, N and NDF range of values were 21.0 to 60.9%, 1.27 to 4.13% and 24.1 to 73.0% in dry basis, respectively. It was found that an increase in pepsin/pancreatin, in vitro N digestibility was associated with less NDF-linked N (R 2 0.50; P<0.007) and lower dry matter content (R 2 0.58; P<0.002) in leaves, and higher values of DM solubility (R 2 0.67; P<0.001), in vitro DM digestibility (R 2 0.76; P<0.001) and N water solubility (R 2 0.82; P<0.001). Highest in vitro N digestibility coefficients were obtained for Moringa oleifera (79.2%), Hibiscus rosasinensis (74.2%), Gliricidia sepium (69.4%) and Morus alba (47.9%). The lowest in vitro N digestibility was observed for palmaceae ( Cocos nucifera, 9.4% and Borassus flabellifer, 5.1%). It is suggested that simple, cheap and easy methods can be used for the nutritional evaluation for pigs of leaves of trees and shrubs in the tropical world.